St Andrew's Prep
St Andrew's Prep is an independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 1 to 13 located near Eastbourne in East Sussex. The school is part of a foundation with neighbouring senior school, Eastbourne College. It aims to be 'a dynamic, innovative prep school where we prepare our pupils for the fast pace and ever changing 21st century while maintaining the finest of prep school traditions.'
- St Andrew's Prep is a coed pre-prep and prep school, offering both day and boarding places.
- The school welcomes approximately 300 pupils with boys and girls aged from 1 to 13 years.
- St Andrew's Prep is located at Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Headmaster Tom Gregory says: 'We provide a firm academic grounding across our broad curriculum and ensure that every lesson and learning opportunity stimulates, encourages and engages the children. We believe lessons learned in the classroom are as important as those learned outside – on the sports field, at beach or forest school, on the stage, on school trips, or in the boarding house.'
'Pastoral care, pupil wellbeing and happiness are at the heart of everything we do; and the children are at the centre of all our decision-making because, quite simply, we believe happy, healthy children thrive and achieve.'
Home to nearly 400 children aged 9 months to 13 years, St Andrew's Prep is just a five minute walk to the sea and the foot of the South Downs.
The school's talented staff is dedicated to preparing its pupils for our fast changing, high-tech world; giving them lifelong-learning and problem-solving skills alongside leadership and teamwork opportunities and, perhaps most important of all, the tools to become good citizens.
In short, St Andrew's Prep is stimulating the imagination, creativity and inventiveness of every pupil while equipping them with the essential qualities of self-discipline, resilience, honesty, kindness and compassion.
We believe we need to be educating the children how to form opinions properly, how to substantiate ideas, how to self-reflect without over-analysing, how to listen and value other opinions, how to think critically and how to be aware of the wider community.
In other words, we want to expand the minds of every pupil so that they become more resilient, more compassionate and better listeners.
Every child is in a sports team, not just the elite; every child can choose to be in a drama production, everybody takes part in music and the vast majority play at least one instrument.
The school is extremely successful. Over the last five years, the school's Year 8 pupils have won more than 125 scholarships to their senior schools. A surprising number of children have reached Grade 8 music and St Andrew's Prep has won many national and county sporting titles.
Head, Governance and Inspections
When reviewing details about a particular school, prospective parents should always ensure they have looked at the governance details, reviewed recent inspections and read about the Head's vision for the school. Find out more about how to read an inspection report, the role of the Head (and whether you need to like him or her!), the school's pastoral care provision, looking at what is taught through the curriculum and assessing the extracurricular opportunities on offer.